$300K Kauffman grant will keep no-cost LaunchCode coding classes in KC another two years
February 22, 2019 | Austin Barnes
Sourced in community building through enhanced access to resources, a grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation will allow LaunchCode Kansas City to continue its training program for at least two additional years, the program announced Thursday.
“It’s very exciting. We know that it’s, in part, through the vision of the Kauffman Foundation that LaunchCode could start up in Kansas City [in 2015] and that vision continues now — to help us build and grow,” Jeffrey Mazur, LaunchCode executive director, told a crowd during the graduation ceremony for the program’s most recent class.
Jeffrey Mazur and Kevin Kickham, LaunchCode
In total, the Kauffman grant will provide LaunchCode with $300,000 to help sustain the program, explained Kevin Kickham, director of institutional giving at LaunchCode.
“There are bootcamps out there that charge people — we don’t charge a dime,” Kickham said. “We are tremendously grateful that the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation believed in that mission and made it possible to get started.”
Click here to learn more about and to apply for coming LaunchCode classes.
A “cornerstone” of the program, LaunchCode might not exist if it weren’t for the open minds at Kauffman, Mazur said.
“We’re forever grateful for their deep and generous support,” he told the crowd in acknowledgement of the impact the grant could have on emerging tech talent in Kansas City.
Additionally, Mazur announced VMLY&R as the largest hiring partner of LaunchCode Kansas City.
Click here for more about how the ongoing partnership has impacted graduates.
“Without the folks who hire people from our program, the whole thing collapses,” Mazur said.
Such an acknowledgment is a reflection of the full-service marketing firm’s commitment to serving as a compiler for coding talent in the metro, he said.
Five of LaunchCode’s fall 2018 graduates began work at VMLY&R this week, the company said.
Thursday’s ceremony graduated more than 80 coders from the no-cost program — the first group since LaunchCode began a new on-campus partnership with Rockhurst University in 2018, LaunchCode said.
Rockhurst will continue to host LaunchCode classes, the university announced during the ceremony.
Featured Business
2019 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Torch.AI acquisition boosts its national security thumbprint, building out workforce proudly in KC
Leveraging Torch.AI’s local talent alongside targeted acquisitions gets the Leawood artificial intelligence firm closer to its goal of securely sharing data with the world, said Brian Weaver, founder and CEO, committing to keeping the surging company in Kansas City. “As our technology is being adopted by more and more customers and those customers continue to…
Not too late for the ‘naughty’ list: Roll into 2022 with a year-round Kansas City bourbon ball
A nip of locally distilled Tom’s Town bourbon mingles with bittersweet chocolate and a bourbon pecan mash with each bite into “guilty pleasure” — one of dozens of “notoriously naughty” bourbon and rum balls made by Lisa Fitch. “A lot of people associate them with the holidays, like they do with divinity fudge,” explained Fitch, founder…
The future is local: How masks helped neighbors look each other in the eyes again
Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone. Keith Bradley is co-owner of Made in KC, a brick-and-mortar and online retailer of locally made goods with neighborhood, marketplace and cafe locations downtown, on the Country Club Plaza, in Lee’s Summit, Lenexa, and across the metro. As we wind down our second…
RIP to free chips and salsa: Why Don Chilitos just released the KC Tex-Mex staple’s secret family recipes
Don Chilitos might have served its last bit of CCQ sauce — but that doesn’t mean its final customers had to settle for a handful of chiclets as a memento on their way out the door, Barry Cowden said, explaining his decision to go public with dozens of recipes from the beloved restaurant in a newly…